Ninja Sentai Kakuranger 29 – Master & Student

This is it, the final confrontation between Jiraiya and his master Gali. Who will win at the end of this battle? The student or his master? Aside from that, the truth on why Gali ended up working for the Yokai will be revealed after this!

For at least 12 minutes of the show, it feels like I am not watching an episode of Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, but an episode of some martial arts movie, which features an epic battle between the master who went rogue and the student who will stop him from wrecking havoc. To add up the drama, the master killed his student's father who happens to be his best friend. Heck, the way I described it feels like I am doing a review of some martial arts movie!

Back to the episode, the first six minutes is just one awesome martial arts sequence. Granted, Sasuke pops out from time to time to advance the later portion of the episode, but who cares about the plot! I am seeing two guys fighting with minimal aide from stunt doubles and it's freakin' awesome! It didn't help that it's a fight between master and student and if I will go a bit Meta, it's a fight between father and son! It's hard to find the right words to describe the fight, the only word I can't think of right now that best describes it is "awesome".

More on the fight, another thing that I like about it is the drama that's happening during the fight. Gali is still acting like a master to Jiraiya as he reminds him how he thought him to fight. What's more is the close-up shots they made for this scene, it adds up the intensity of the fight scenes that followed it. It is also the time I noticed that there are tears in Gali's eyes, a clear sign that his reason for fighting Jiraiya is more than just following the orders of Nue. Heck, his reasons might be something much deeper than that.

At the end, Jiraiya kinda followed his master's teachings when it comes to fighting, to let your rage control you, but to have a calm mind in battle. He defeated his master, but decided not to kill him. Weakened, we finally learned how he ended up working under Nue. The flash back scene is seriously weird at first. I mean, why drive in some abandoned quarry? I know it has something to do when it comes to production, but in the previous episode, they kinda transformed Japan into some area in Los Angeles.

Aside from the rather mediocre filming site, I can't help but notice the bad lip dubbing of Gali's daughter. Now that I am done nitpicking, the flash back scene itself is really well done. It's about the story of a father who wants to see her daughter alive that he is willing to "sell his soul to the devil" just to do it. It's a rather sad bargain that it haunted Gali's life after he saw the young Jiraiya mourning over the lost of his father. This is when he decided to train the man who wished no, hoped that will eventually kill him for his crimes. Wow, this is one tragic twist of events.

Gali eventually dies and now, Jiraiya wants to avenge the deaths of his master and his father and calls out the man who is responsible for this tragedy, the Yokai named Nue. Even though this guy only appeared for 3 episodes, he seriously made a lot of impact in Jiraiya's life, making me wish that this guy will stay for another episode. But considering how this episode is presented, it's not the case. After we learned those facts, Nue feels like he is meant to be the finale of Jiraiya's story. You can say that Nue is Jiraiya's own personal final boss.

But before he can face the guy in battle, he finally received his Shinobi Scroll, allowing him to summon the God Ganma. The animation for God Ganma is fantastic, the use of the models and the green screen made the creature's movements seem so life like. As for its moves, I love that it can summon little toads and use them as bombs, it's really cool. Also, seeing it shoot some fire made me wonder what is the connection between fire and the Tale of Gallant Jiraiya. I mean, I saw Naruto's Jiraiya shoot some fire and I still can't figure out why frogs are related to fire even though frogs spend most of their time in water.

Because he can't finish Nue alone, the rest of the team arrived with their respective God mecha to defeat Nue. Seeing the five together again is one great sight to see. It feels like all of their hard work finally pay off now that they got their Shinobi Scrolls and now ready to face Prince Junior before he has the chance to resurrect the Infernal King. After our heroes defeated Nue and payed respects to Jiraiya's master, it is time to finally face the Prince Junior as he attempts to resurrect the Infernal King! Can our heroes stop him before it is too late?

Ninja Sentai Kakuranger 28 – Master vs. Student

S*** just got real.

It's now time for Jiraiya to search for his Shinobi Scroll and in this journey, we learn more about his past and his relationship with his master, Gila. But things get interesting when we learned that his master is working for the Yokai! Can he fight his own master?

Since the day Jiraiya made his debut, he is easily my favorite Kakuranger. The fact that he is originally an outcast in the group who later learned how to get along with them is one of the things that I liked about this guy. It's a plus that he speaks fluent English and that his actor does most of his stunts in the series. When the series decided that each Kakuranger will have a quest to find their respective Shinobi Scrolls, I am excited to see what is Jiraiya's quest and boy, I am not disappointed with it.

For starters, Nue, the Yokai from the previous episode is still alive. As it turns out, he was buried alive and is now ordering some of his Yokai to do his work for him. Another thing that's interesting is that there's no Prince Junior interfering the search for the scroll. It's like the guy is confident that Nue can do the job and I am okay with it. I mean, Nue is seriously competent in the previous episode and he is one of the villains that I want to see in action after he made his first debut appearance.

Next is Sasuke who makes an appearance in this episode as he decides to help Jiraiya in his quest for the Shinobi Scroll. At first I hated that he is in the episode because from how I understand it, the quest is also a quest of discovering one's self, which is something that the other four already achieved. Having him here kinda ruins the other intention of this quest. But as the episode went on, the only thing Sasuke did is just aid him in some battles. For most part, he just lets Jiraiya search his Shinobi Scroll and that is a good thing. He still understands the other purpose of this quest.

Now that I am done talking some of the stuff indirectly related to Jiraiya's quest for the Shinobi Scroll, it's now time to talk about him. What's great about the episode is that we now have a better background about the character and how he started his training as a ninja. Those flashback scenes firmly established his relationship with his father and his mentor. Those scenes showed us how close he is with his mentor that at some point, acted like a father figure to him after his father died thanks to the Yokai. What's great about it is that they brought this up; complete with the flashback sequences just to prepare ourselves to one big plot twists.

Turns out that Jiraiya's mentor, Gali is working for the Yokai from the very beginning! He is the man who killed his father is working with Nue just to kill his own student! It's a really sad twist because Jiraiya treated him like his own father. The scene, which features Jiraiya bidding farewell to his master is really touching and just seeing his master step on the memento that he gave to his student makes the scene more tragic. To put it simply, the second half of the episode is basically Jiraiya's master showing us how awesome he is and it didn't help that he easily defeated Ninja Red Sasuke with just his standard equipment!

But there is one thing that bothered me. If Gali is training Jiraiya since day 1 as a Kakuranger and he is working for the Yokai, why didn't he kill Jiraiya during the time he is still at his weakest especially after he killed his father? For me, it doesn't make sense unless it is yet another tragic plot twist, which involves Gali training the man who will eventually kill him because he wants atonement for the sins he committed in the past. If this is Jiraiya's personal quest this entire time, all I have to say is that this is, hands down, the best story arc in this series. But for now, I can't wait to see what will happen next.

Ninja Sentai Kakuranger 27 – The Shinobi Scroll Quest III: Kappa Edition

Well this is fun.

The search for the Shinobi Scrolls continues and this time, it is time for Seikai and Saizou to look for it. To make this quest interesting, a Yokai named Nue arrives and transforms the duo into Kappa. But not just any Kappa, the lowest of the low kind of Kappa, a Krappa!

After two serious episodes involving the quest of the Shinobi Scrolls, this episode is kinda light-hearted. It is kinda light-hearted in a sense that there's at least a serious part in the episode. But before talking about that serious part, let's first talk about the light-hearted bits in this episode. First is the fact that it's only Saizou and Seikai and who are traveling to together in search for the scrolls. The opening scene feels like the two went on a fun road trip and not on a life changing adventure. I hated it at first, but it later made sense when it turns out that their scrolls are in a single area.

Next is Nue's first appearance in the episode. Even though he is one scary villain, the way they introduced him felt like he is one of those bad filler villains. I mean, the way Junior describes him while one of the foot soldiers is holding a picture of Nue gave me that kind of impression. But when he finally made his first appearance, it feels like he is more like a mid-season boss and not a monster of the week that will die at the end of this episode. He is one great monster that he turned our heroes into the lowest kind of Kappa, Krappa!

The Kappa transformation scene is really well done, grated there are parts that the prosthetics is noticeable, but at least the transformation sequence looks great and that's what matters to me anyway. This is when the episode starts to get serious, aside that they need water to survive, for them to revert back to normal is that they need to kill the other Kappa. It's the only dark part of the episode but they executed it really well. I mean seriously, they hesitated at first but as the transformation continues and that people are making fun at them, they started to have thoughts of killing the other, leading to one heck of a scene.

As for the scene itself, it's really good and made me forget the comedy bits related to their Kappa transformation earlier because we are now dealing some serious stuff right here. Will the two kill each other just to retain their humanity or will die together as the worse Kappa? Considering that killing can basically make you realize that you are a monster of a different kind, I guess it's better to that a crappy Kappa then if that's the case... and that's what the two decided. Since they will transform into a Kappa anyway, they decided to fight till the end.

The fight of the duo against Nue is really great. Granted, Nue is stronger than them, but seeing their determination to defeat him is what makes the fight scene really great. Heck, even the foot soldiers are supporting them in this one, which I can understand since Saizou and Seikai are now the ultimate underdog in this fight after they are turned into Krappa by the Nue. Even if that's the case, they keep on fighting till the very end even if it is futile. Because of their determination, the foot soldiers helped these two by watering their heads so that they can keep on fighting.

Now stronger than before, they managed to defeat Nue and in the process, destroy the part of his body that transformed them into a Kappa. One thing I noticed in this scene is that Prince Junior didn't interfere in the fight; he is just there watching it all happen. I am not sure if he is observing what is happening or is delighted with the fact that Nue was defeated by the Kakurangers. Considering how he looked during the scenes where we see the foot soldiers showing their support, I guess he is with the Kakurangers in this one.

Now that they are back to normal, it's time for the giant battle. What makes the giant battle interesting is that Nue is the one who defeated Muteki Shogun. By defeated, I mean our heroes just presumed that he died. So yeah, they are screwed right now. But never fear their determination to fight made their Shinobi Scrolls fly towards them! The God Rougan and the God Kumado looks really amazing, and just like God Kark, these two are also sentient beings that can talk.

As for their debut fight, it's kinda interesting in a sense that they are the ones who defeated Nue at the end and not Super Muteki Shogun's finisher. More on the way they defeated Nue, it feels kinda underwhelming since God Kumado just stomps the ground and create a crack to bury Nue and close it. It's not really intense or anything, but what the heck, the way they animated God Kumado and God Rougan is really amazing that I kinda ignored how bad he was defeated. The episode ends and the only one who doesn't have his scroll is Jiraiya. What will happen in his quest for the last Shinobi Scroll?

Ninja Sentai Kakuranger 26 – Worth of a Leader

HNNNNNNNNNNG

Tsuruhime doubts her ability to lead the Kakurangers. Because of this problem and Sandayuu thinks that she is weak enough to be the team's leader, he then animates four Kakuranger dolls to aide her with her quest for her Shinobi Scroll. Will she realize what it means to be a leader?

One of the reasons why I like Kakuranger is that this is the first Super Sentai show that introduced a female leader. Even though Tsuruhime is technically not the Red hero in the show, the show keeps on reminding us why she is as relevant as the show's Red hero... then this episode happened. What I like about this episode is that we learned that Tsuruhime herself has her doubts if she is strong enough to be the team's leader. I mean, there are episodes that she is kidnapped and the team's ace, Sasuke ends up saving her. It's a genuine concern and I like that they addressed it.

We also learned the history of Tsuruhime's clan and that every member of the clan who carries the Tsuruhime name leads the team in their fight against the Yokai. This adds up to her issue in this episode. Can she carry on the legacy left by her ancestors? Though not related to the episode's plot, one thing worth pointing out is that she lives in a Western style house, has maids and butlers serving her and has a dead father that she honors. Which reminds me, since they brought up her father, what happened to her mother?

Back to the plot of the episode, Sandayuu animated Kakuranger dolls to aide Tsuruhime with her quest of her Shinobi Scroll. Earlier in the episode, she failed to retrieve her scroll because of a Yokai blocking her path. The dolls are basically her retainers who will protect Tsuruhime at all cost. They don't care about their lives, as long as they protect Tsuruhime. At first I don't mind the dolls… until we see these dolls revert to the human forms of their respective Kakuranger one by one.

The scene is really dramatic and shows us more of Tsuruhime's doubt as the team's leader while she is running away from the enemies while the dolls are busy fighting the Yokai. After doll Sasuke's sacrifice, Tsuruhime is starting to question if she is worthy to take the Shinobi Scroll. This scene sums up Tsuruhime's character in a nutshell. Though she is not as strong as the male members of her team, she cares for them and that makes a good leader. And thus, she passed the test given to her by the Shinobi Scroll, now it makes sense why we saw lights flying out of the Shinobi Scroll after Sandayuu animated the dolls!

Finally, the introduction of the God Kark; unlike the introduction of the God Saruder, we heard God Kark speak in her debut. The only thing note noting about God Kark is that it shoots lasers and it flies. Oh, and Tsuruhime has one awesome character theme. At the end, Super Muteki Shogun defeated the Yokai after God Kark weakened it. With Sasuke and Tsuruhime finishing their respective quests, all that's left is Seikai, Saizou and Jiraiya.

One last thing to note about this episode, since they stopped using the narrator to tell us the story about the Yokai, which the Yokai of the week is based on, the Yokai of week is the one who introduced us to its origins and mythology. It's a nice change but it kinda ruins the mood of the scene for a bit. I mean, the monster suddenly telling us its origins for no reason at all? It feels a bit out of place if you ask me.